How do you handle Christmas right after Disney trip??

[Picabo]

We're going to take the girls to Disney in early December. Obviously I already have my eyeball on plenty of things I want to buy them! (My Little Pony outfits, Potato head parts, mouseears, etc etc etc!) So how do we handle Christmas this year after such a pricey vacation? I don't want them to notice that Christmas is "smaller" this year b/c after all....why would Santa be effected by us going to Disney?? (Oh FYI they are 2 and 3 yrs old and the 2 yr old won't know anything but trust me when I say my almost 4 yr old knows all about Santa and Christmas!) Just wondering how others have dealth with this.

Was thinking Santa could "come early" b/c he KnOWS they are going to Disney and he leaves them a gift card to buy whatever they want. BUT - they are just 2 and 3 yrs old. Not sure that'd make sense and come Christmas - they will forget that santa already gave them a gift card! LOL Think they will notice if this year's gifts are significantly cheaper/less than normal years (where we aren't going to Disney just before).

THANKS!!

 

[MSSANDRA]

When you see all the neat things say, 'Oh lets tell Santa about that!". Send DH back to get and hid it and let Santa bring it a few weeks later.

I agree, no gifts cards for young children. They know santa is comming and bringing toys but have no idea what things cost and can be talked into pretty much what you want Santa to bring! Buy smaller price gifts and they will be just as happy!!!

 

[mitsybella]

Children that age don't really care so much about the toys, mine had more fun playing with the boxes If you have alot of little things to wrap and you know it is things they like I don't think they will know you spent less, just as long as santa left something they will be happy

 

[vroomagain]

My friend once went on a vacation with her family in late Nov. That Christmas all they got were things from WDW! Apparently Santa was there too!

You could always souvenir shop and wrap those for Christmas.

We are going the second week of January so we are doing what the pp suggested- giving them little toys (and some pre-disney trip stuff) to unwrap.

If I were going beforehand, I would give them a mini photo book from the trip! I have a 2 yr old and a 3 yr old also and they love to look at pictures of themselves, add mickey and minnie and I think they would look at themselves for hours.

 

[LWatson]

I was wondering the same thing because we are going Dec 9-16th and DH wants to make this trip their Christmas, but I want to still get them something. He was thinking of having Christmas AT Disney and bringing our stockings for the kids (which one is mickey the other is pooh) and having Christmas our off day (and maybe doing MVMCP)

 

[PHXscuba]

From almost-3 to almost-4 a child probably won't remember what or how much she got for Christmas last year. Nor the price of the individual gifts.

I think I'd let them take home a few souvenirs from WDW and wrap up some souvenirs for Christmas. I think you're right that they won't understand gift cards. I like the photo album idea a PP had. My DD7 was just looking at pix of her first trip to DLR when she was 4.5.

I find that how many/how pricey/making things come out "even" for my kids is only an issue for me and my OCD, not for my kids.

PHXscuba

 

[RMulieri]

At that age they may not notice.My daughter at that age wouldn't have.I am still wondering what a trip Dec 12-18 is going to do to my holiday prep stuff.I definitely need to be all done before we go, and for me that will be a HUGE challenge

 

[irene_dsc]

Yeah, at that age, they would notice if there weren't ANY presents, but they have no clue how much stuff costs. So, as long as they get some stuff, you should be fine.

That being said, one option is you could do some of your vacation shopping without them around, and then those things could be part of their Christmas presents.

 

[Pirate1+Princess4]

Mine will be 7 and 9. We'll be there dec 12 - 20.

They are old enough to understand that Christmas will be light- at least from what Mom and Dad give them. Santa is still expected. I fear it may be the last for my oldest, and I think one of my 7 year olds is quite perceptive, but she also knows where the gravy train is.

I'm sure Santa will bring some Disney items.

Thankfully my crew is still naive enough to have no clue about cost/value- though they'll get a nice lesson when trying to spend their Disney Dollars in the parks.

 

[natenapril]

Looks like a few of us will be there at the same time!

In our house mom and dad usually buy the majority of the presents and Santa only brings a few of the higher ticket items. This year since we are going to DIsney and then on to stay with family for the holidays, the trip to WDW is their present from MOM and Dad but Santa will still be bringing something for them. Now if I could just figure out what santa is bringing we would be all set!

 

[meghanlea]

We are going at the end of Oct, and we have told our 5 yr old that this is her Christmas from us. Our son is 2 and has no clue. She says she understands and is fine with it. She has been wanting another american girl doll, and her dad gave her a choice, a doll or disney and she said disney b/c santa can bring me chrissa . kids. So santa will probably bring her the doll, and we will get a few small things. Thats how it is here anyway, santa brings the big gift and we get the smaller things. Just this year smaller means cheaper too. My son got a train table from santa last year and she got the HSM high school for barbies. So they were already opened and set up and to be honest they are played with more than any other toy they got this year.

 

[reservations4five]

This trip is going to be Christmas for my kids. We are going Dec 14-20.

They get PLENTY from my parents. I am going to make up a package announcing the trip to them from Santa and us. I haven't exactly figured out the way I am going to do this.

The when we get home for Christmas i thought we would just have some family time together then hit the rent's house like normal.

 

[Mickeypooh99]

We will be returning home on December 5th. My DS #1 will turn 9 on December 12th. My DS #2 will turn 8 on December 25th. My DH will have his birthday on Jan. 2. Its a busy time of year for us!

This will be our 3rd time doing this. We don't spend less on Birthdays or Christmas on the years we go to disney because we plan ahead for it. We save up money in advance. We go to Disney every other year so it gives us a lot of time to save.

It would be different if we said this is your birthday/Christmas gift, but we have not done it that way. We have had Santa bring them gifts from disney when they were younger, but I think they would probably figure it out now.

 

[momofrrr]

We usually go at Thanksgiving and when our youngest daughter was little she always wanted something. It seemed like we could not go in any shop without her saying "I want that". We would take mental notes and tell her that would be a great thing to ask Santa for. Then we would make arrangements to have it shipped home so we did not have to try to carry and conceal. It worked out well. WE laugh about it now but at the time it was a little trying. Have a great trip!

 

[tlh0726]

Our trip was after Christmas so it was much easier to explain to the kids.
We exchanged gifts with each other as normal the night before and xmas morning Santa brought them each a big bike size bag full of balloons, countdown chain, candy bucket (1 piece for each day of the countdown) There was also a new bike stroller with a sign that said the royal carriage and one small toy for each under the tree. The oldest opted for a new laptop instead of going to WDW so that was under the tree for him.

At their age they will definitely expected something from santa xmas morning. A bunch of inexpensive things would suffice. (chalk, crayons, coloring books, paints, etc)
My kids look at thier autograph book and pictures of them with the characters every day and show it to everyone that comes to our house.
If you could get a photobook together once you return and put this is a box/bag with a mickey and minnie head balloon, so they pop out once they open it. (my kids liked the balloons more than the toys they got)
I also agree with either you or DH going back and purchasing one of the things that they want and keep it hidden or ship it home.

 

[tinkmom2]

This is our first time visiting WDW at Christmas and we also have a 3 day bounceback cruise on the Wonder that week. My 3 year old really doesn't care what she gets for Christmas and is fine opening a few boxes. My 9 year old is so picky and wants to pick out her own stuff so I am going to get her a gift card. My kids know it's more about family then getting tons of presents every year. They know we are pretty lucky to go to Disney as much as we have. This trip will be one of their presents. I like the idea of finding things on our trip and hiding them for X Mas morning.

 

[micheleq]

We did WDW last December, and "Santa" got DD4 Cindy's Castle Playset. Santa had it shipped directly to CT from DTD

My kids are small too, and we tried to not go overboard on Xmas presents because of the Disney trip. But, I couldn't resist the Castle. I got a few things online (major sale disneyoutlet.com) that were xmas gifts, and a few things that became souvies for friends back home.

I agree w/PP -- there are things you can buy, have the shop send them to your resort and try and hide them until you get home. I know, easier said than done!

Enjoy! WDW in December is magical!

 

[HerdOHuds]

I agree that your children won't realize how much something costs or how many gifts there are. The only thing is there will probably be pictures after the fact.

We did a before Christmas trip last year and DH and I limited our gifts. There were still a ton of gifts leftover, despite my best intentions and repeated reminders to my mother. In fact there might have been more since we found other things at Disney when we were there. I was almost ill looking at the huge pile that was under, around, behind and stretching around the living room. I even scolded my mom pretty harshly.

In the end, I relaxed and gave it up. What it really comes down to is that your children and you have special memories and moments from the holiday. A few special surprises will really suffice and since Santa knows you went to Disney, he can shop there too!

 

[WantToGoNow]

Our trip is Nov 28 - Dec 6. My dd's birthday is Dec 9 - but we will be celebrating this at Disney at Chef Mickey's (her 4 cousins will be there as well so it will be like having a party). We are planning a very light Christmas this year. The plan is to get 1 item from Mom/Dad because "Disney is their Christmas gift this year" - this very well could be something we see at WDW and they don't get (I did this with the Wilderness Lodge Lincoln Logs 3 years ago) and then Santa always brings 3 items including their large (i.e. more expensive) item. My ds8 no longer believes in Santa but as long as dd does, he will still get the gifts as well. My kids are really into the Wii - my older dd suggested that we each get 1 game each (4 because dh doesn't play) and then a couple of smaller items. We may go this route because I think that Wii is the only thing left from Christmas last year that hasn't been broken, discarded, or forgotten about.

 

[cltk78]

We'll be there Nov 29 - Dec 5 for DS1's birthday. We'll be celebrating Christmas the same as always. Though, we've never done gifts from Santa. We usually just do a few gifts each from DH and myself.